The Paintball Marker Has An Interesting History

The Paintball marker of today has definitely come abe replaced. With older plastic markers, when parts
long way since the introduction of the Splat Masterwore out, a new marker was needed. Also the
years ago. The term itself "paintball marker" is relativelyupgrade of "constant air" came about. Instead of using
new. It tends to be more marketable then the wordsthe 12gram Co2 cylinder, which was good for about 15
"paintball gun" to parents who have teenagers beggingshots, the gun was equipped with a bracket that held a
to get started in the sport.12 ounce Co2 tank which was good for about 200
Funny though true, the first paintball markers whereshots.
used on cattle ranches. In a large herd of cattle whereConstant air was a real breakthrough for the sport
cows all bare very similar markings, it can be very hardand was no doubt a huge stepping stone for the next
to single one out of the herd. This is where the paintballstep in the paintball marker evolution, which was the
marker proved to be a valuable tool. This was donesemi-automatic marker. Compared to the pump
usually to separate a sick animal from the herd. Oncemarkers, these guns had an incredible rate of fire. A
a cow had been marked, it was easily picked out ofplayer with a good trigger finger could pull off nine
the herd.shots a second! With fire power like that, the invention
From cattle ranches to playing fields, the sport ofof large capacity electric hoppers came onto the
paintball evolved and continues to do so.scene. These hoppers were mounted on the top of
The Splat Master was one of the first markersthe guns and could hold up to 250 paintballs. They also
available. It was a pistol made totally out of plastic. Itwere equipped with a small rotating arm inside the
was powered by small 12 gram Co2 cylinders andhopper which helped feed the paintballs to keep up
could only hold ten paintballs at a time. The rate of firewith the much faster rate of fire.
was also slow due to the fact the marker first had toThe semi-automatic marker was truly a
be tilted back so a paintball would drop into the firinggroundbreaking event for the sport, but the question still
chamber. It then had to be cocked by pushing a buttonhung in the air would there ever be full auto?
on the back of the handle.That was question was soon answered with a
Although even playing the game with this type ofpaintball marker called The Angel, but what made the
marker was extremely fun, it wasn't long beforeAngel a real marvel is that is was computerized. It was
players wanted something better, and they got it withequipped with a small motherboard inside the handle of
the creation of the pump action paintball marker. Thethe gun. This allowed the user to select several modes
pump marker had a much faster rate of fire and couldof fire, including fully automatic.
be modified with upgrades to improve performance.Today's markers have followed the same road map
Another great change that came with the pumpthat the Angel laid out, and we can only wait to see
marker was the introduction of metal parts that couldwhat the next generation of paintball markers will bring.